Eyes on The Damned

Chapter 12

September 4th 2021 6:43 pm

There was utter silence in the room following Irwin's announcement.

Jim kept his eyes on the two fingerprints. He examined every line. There were a lot of flaws in the killer's print. He had known the first time Dan showed it to him that it would be difficult to get a conviction based on this. Even so, the match was very close to the print Irwin said was his.

"This is a joke," Jim declared. "Right? It has to be a joke."

"No joke," Irwin insisted.

"Then there's some mistake."

"Can you explain how your fingerprint was found on the murder victim's body, Detective Ellison?"

Jim laid the two prints back on the table. "If this really is my fingerprint, no, I have no explanation."

"You're going to have to do better than that."

"What do you want me to say? We all know this print belongs to the person who murdered Tania Roca. It appears to match mine. Either I killed the girl, or it's not my print."

"May I see that?" Simon asked, stepping forward.

"You're here to observe, Captain. This is the third time you've interrupted."

"It will be the last, if you let me see that print. We're on the same side, aren't we? We all want to catch this killer."

Irwin gave both sheets to Simon. He went to the window and lined them up against the light. He looked closely at them. Jim waited tensely.

Finally, Simon returned to the table, giving the fingerprints back to Irwin. "The Roca print isn't complete or clear," he told her. "The areas where it's not blurred do seem to match Ellison's but that's a long way from being conclusive." He shook his head. "I'm not sure I'd be fully comfortable using this for elimination, let alone identification."

One of the other IA detectives spoke up for the first time. "Would you be saying that if the suspect wasn't one of yours, Captain Banks?"

"Take a look for yourself." Simon waited for Irwin to hand them over. "It doesn't line up. Now, that could be imaging error, but without an exact line up you'd need points of comparison. This partial isn't enough for that."

The detective dismissed Simon's opinion with a gesture. "It's too close for my comfort, Captain Banks. I have to recommend Ellison is suspended from duty, effective immediately." He looked at his colleagues.

Irwin nodded. "Detective, we'll need your badge and your gun."

It was inevitable, Jim realised. He didn't waste his breath arguing, but stood up and slammed his shield on the table. He drew his gun, pushed the catch to slide out the clip and emptied the chamber. Then he laid the unloaded gun next to his shield. "Are we done now?"

"Not nearly, Detective. Sit down."

                                                                                      *

9:38 pm

They desecrated his home.

Jim was exhausted by the time he reached his door and he could tell before his key was in his hand that something was different. The place just felt wrong. He looked at the lock as he raised his key and saw scratches around it. Someone had forced the lock.

Instinctively he reached for his gun, but the holster was empty. Of course.

Someone broke into his apartment. Was there someone waiting inside?